Try ‘waste-free parenting’ for big time savings

If there’s one thing I never expected about having kids, it’s the enormous amount of waste parenting them can generate. Nappies, wipes, wrappers, broken toys, well worn and outgrown clothing, plastic squishy containers, straws and seemingly endless one-use packaging of literally everything ensures our rubbish and recycling bins are always full-to-overflowing by the end of each week.

From an environmental perspective, all this family waste makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed. And while I try to reduce waste and recycle where and when I can, sometimes there’s just so much ‘stuff’ to consider and to sort, and I’m so strapped for time, that I often feel overwhelmed.

But, according to Melbourne mum, blogger and waste-free advocate Erin Rhoads, aka The Rogue Ginger, it doesn’t have to be that way and with a bit of awareness, forward planning and mindful shopping, we can reduce our waste and save some serious dollars in the process!

Living a waste-free life

Erin was initially inspired to live waste-free after watching an eco-documentary called The Clean Bin Project, which she says shocked her into taking action. “I’d never watched an eco-documentary before and wouldn’t have described myself as environmentally aware,” Erin tells Kidspot. “But the movie was a huge wake up call, alerting me to the devastating effects plastic has on everything around us … turning up in our environment, our food, water and even the air we breathe.”

Erin says the film made her question her own indirect contribution as a consumer and inspired her to do something to reduce her own impact. “I signed up to take part in Plastic-Free July, a challenge where participants ‘choose to refuse’ single-use plastic during the month of July. I saw so many benefits during that month that I decided to keep going, blogging about my experience along the way,” she says.

“I saw a reduction in plastic use, I began eating healthier food since so much processed food is wrapped in plastic, I saved over $5000 over the course of a year and eventually I stopped putting out my rubbish bin at all.”

She says she and her husband now live according to the principles of refusing, reusing, reducing, sharing, repairing, buying second-hand and only choosing items that will compost and recycling as a last resort.

And baby makes three

So when baby came along, Erin and her husband already had a number of effective systems in place to avoid the cost and waste that generally comes with parenting a newborn. “We simply asked ourselves how our great grandparents did it without all our modern conveniences,” Erin says. “We simply had to plan ahead.”

She says because babies grow so quickly that buying all the things they need brand new isn’t necessary and can be enormously expensive. “Choosing to reuse and buy second-hand keeps items out of landfill, saves on resources needed to make new things and, of course, saves new parents so much money,” she says. “The furniture, pram, baby bath, clothes, wraps, sheets and even cloth nappies we purchased second-hand and we spent under $500 in total for our son,” she says.

That said, Erin is quick to assure me that when it comes to buying second-hand, her son’s health  and safety comes before anything else. “I still look for safety first. I’m not afraid to ask a lot of questions, test out the items and do my research because my child’s wellbeing is number one,” she says.

“We also won’t purchase certain plastics, mainly PVC, due to their toxic nature and nor would we consider plastic food and drink containers that hot food would ever be served in. When a plastic item claims to be BPA free, that ingredient is replaced with BPS, which is just as toxic so we choose wood, glass and metal.”

Before her son was born, Erin says she and her husband discussed the ‘what if’s’ and decided that if they needed any form of medication for their baby they wouldn’t hesitate to purchase it. “I’m not anti-plastic, simply against its misuse and I don’t think plastic in medicine is a misuse compared to something like a one-use plastic bag,” she explains. “Our son suffered through colic from two weeks old and we bought medicine to help relieve the symptoms. He is also teething right now and we’ve given him Baby Panadol to ease his discomfort.”

The great time and money saver

Without subscribing to many of the modern conveniences that most of us take for granted, you’d assume there’d certainly be more work involved in parenting this way – and Erin agrees. But, she says, the rewards far outweigh the inconveniences she and her family experience on a day-to-day basis. “There’s some more work involved, yes, but our grandparents and great-grandparents did it without many of the many modern conveniences we have today, so I think we have it pretty easy in comparison,” she says.

Erin says that when baby first came along, she found she was doing washing every day but has since managed to reduce it down to every two days. “Instead of making purees, we are doing baby lead weaning and simply altering our meals so he can grab food from our plates,” she says. “I check out second-hand websites like Gumtree, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and local buy, swap, sell sites while I’m breastfeeding … the second-hand baby goods market is huge we never have trouble finding anything we need.”

And while the family’s waste-free approach to parenting requires a little extra time in the short-term, Erin says she they certainly come out in front in the long term. “The money I’ve saved up over the past five years (living this way) has allowed me to take time off work to stay at home with our son and my husband has also been able to be more flexible with his time to enjoy these early months,” she says. “I feel very fortunate to be able to do this.”

Ultimately, Erin says she and her husband hope that by raising their son in a waste-free environment they’re showing him that happiness is not found in consuming ‘things’ but rather in creating ‘memories’. “It’s very important for us to be role models because the way we talk and behave in front of our children becomes their inner voice,” she says. “Our lifestyle is about kindness, responsibility and intention … every action has a reaction and we hope our lifestyle will show him to be aware of his own.”

How to become a waste-free parent

Erin says when deciding go the waste-free route it’s easy to become overwhelmed, which is why it’s important to start small and work your way up to making bigger changes. “Before going waste-free, you’ll need to know what rubbish you’re putting into your bin so I suggest to families to do a bin audit,” she says. “This can be as easy as putting a piece of paper and pen near the bin and writing everything that goes in. After two weeks, check to see what the main items are and begin to investigate ways to divert these from landfill.”

Erin says some other ways you can begin to make small changes might include:

• Composting your food scraps, which make up 40 percent of the rubbish in our bins. This will immediately help you to reduce rubbish.
• Say no to single use plastics like plastic bags, plastic straws, single-use coffee cups, take away containers, plastic bottles and plastic cutlery. These can all be replaced with cloth bags, a reusable coffee cup, and bringing reusable containers to the butcher or deli.
• Think outside the square. Plastics, as we know them, have only been around since the 1950s, so think how our ancestors used to do it and try it out. Bring your own bag to the supermarket, use a hankie instead of a tissue and only buy toilet paper that has been made from recycled paper.
• Learn how to recycle properly by contacting your local council and checking out the RedCycle program at major supermarkets.
• Investigate bulk stores where you can take your own bags, containers and bottles to be refilled.
• Make it fun by getting the kids involved and reward who can reduce their rubbish the most.
• Invest in some beeswax wraps for the kitchen, a simple swap for plastic wrap.
• Use cloth nappies. If you are nervous or unsure about trying cloth nappies, using just two cloth nappies a week will save 100 disposable plastic nappies from landfill each year.

Find out more about waste-free living and parenting on Erin’s popular blog site, The Rogue Ginger.

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